


Another Birthday

by Ljparis



Category: The Nanny
Genre: Banter, Birthday, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-02 21:24:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16795018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljparis/pseuds/Ljparis
Summary: It's C.C.'s birthday and she wants to forget all about it and celebrate it at the same time. Niles has other ideas.





	Another Birthday

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kangeiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kangeiko/gifts).



Another birthday. Another year to remind C.C. that she was getting _older_. She would much rather be forever 29, but that was falling dangerously into Fran Fine territory, and C.C. would rather separate herself from the nanny. If Fran could be 29 eternally, than maybe C.C. ought to be 30 eternally. Older and wiser, naturally. 

Despite the fact that this was a milestone birthday that she didn't want to think about, C.C. _did_ want a big deal made of it, so long as the number of years wasn't the focal point. That's why she took it upon herself to write several reminders in Maxwell's date book. And on his desk calendar. If there were any other places he might regularly see, she'd have scribbled the reminder there, too.

However, the day of her birthday began (and continued) like any other and with no mention of it being her birthday at all.

By lunchtime, when she expected Maxwell to suggest going downtown to Sardi's as they sometimes did to celebrate in the past, she was grumpy. It showed. She snapped at Nanny Fine. She snapped at Niles (unsurprising). She even snapped at Maxwell when he said he was going to have lunch with a friend and then disappeared for two hours without her. What friend could possibly be more important than C.C. today?

As soon as Maxwell was out of the house, she ducked into his office to check his desk. The desk calendar was brand new - not the one she'd written on. His date book was missing today's page _and_ the calendar page for this month. "What the - ?"

A figure appeared in the doorway, and she looked up, eyes wide. "You!" she said, her tone threatening, her finger pointed and poking in the air toward him. "What did you do?"

"Me?" Niles asked innocently. "Whatever do you mean?" Though there wasn't a smile on his face, C.C. knew he was smiling, cackling, oh-so-pleased with himself on the inside. She could practically see it radiating out of him.

She hurried around the side of the desk toward him as he leaned there, casually in the doorway, one arm crossed and the other flicking a feather duster at the wall. "Niles … !"

"Did you know, Ms. Babcock, that today is a very special day?" he continued, undeterred by the gritting of her teeth, the flush of her cheeks, the way her hands flexed at her sides in an effort to keep herself calm. 

C.C. refused to let him have the upper hand. "It is?" She barely opened her mouth with the reply.

"Oh yes," Niles continued. "It's the 287th anniversary of the digging of the well in the back garden of my family's home in the south of England. Completely marvelous. We used to celebrate every year when I was a boy. Everyone would gather round the well, holding hands and singing songs of praise to the fairies -"

"The anniversary of a _well_?" C.C. seethed. "Fairies? What world do you even _live_ in?" She took a moment to calm herself, counted backwards from ten in her head, and then straightened. "I have better things to do than listen to you blather on like this." She pushed past him, her shoulder a direct hit against his as she left Maxwell's office and stomped down the hall.

Niles's eyebrows shot up, and he hid a smile, but he didn't call out after her, letting her, for once, have the last word.

\--

With Maxwell off with some other friend and Nanny Fine who knows where and Niles rambling on about garden wells and fairies and whatever other ridiculous nonsense, C.C. decided her birthday afternoon was best spent at the salon. 

A blow out, a pedicure, a facial, a manicure, a _massage_. If Maxwell questioned her taking the afternoon off work, she'd lay on the guilt really thick. Today was her birthday, no one else mattered.

By the time she returned to the Sheffield residence, C.C. was feeling refreshed. She wasn't even angry anymore. She knew how to have a good time on her birthday all on her own.

She knocked on the front door, waiting for Niles or Nanny Fine to let her in. Still waiting, that frustration began to seep back in. C.C. knocked again. Still nothing.

Just as she was about to go around the back and let herself in, the door opened and Niles stuck his head out. "Yes, Miss Babcock?"

She looked at him, then sighed dramatically as she pushed past him and into the foyer…

… where someone had decorated with balloons and streamers all in shades of black and gray and silver and gold. The entire Sheffield family stood around wearing party hats and everyone shouted "Happy birthday C.C. / Miss Babcock" as she walked in.

For a few seconds, C.C. didn't react. It was so unexpected. So completely outside of the norm that she couldn't grasp the correct reaction. Then, she gasped, delighted. "Maxwell!" she exclaimed. "What is this? Did you do all of this for me?"

Maxwell held up his hands, one of which was delicately holding a noisemaker, though C.C. couldn't imagine him actually using it to make any noise. "It wasn't my idea," he said.

Nanny Fine laughed, loudly in that way she always did, and it didn't even grate on C.C., not after seeing such a display put on for her. "It was all Niles' idea, Miss Babcock," she said. "He planned everything."

Again, C.C. didn't react right away. She turned, sharply, and looked at Niles, who was still standing near the front door, a look on his face like he was a cat who'd gotten the cream. "You!" she said, though this time she didn't go poking any fingers into the air at him. "Why? How? _Why?_?"

There was a moment there between them, when C.C. thought he might give her a straight answer. His eyes softened, his cheeks were flushed with excitement, but a moment later it slipped away and he smirked at her. "You really don't look a day over _sixty_ ," he said. 

"Sixty," she nearly screeched. "Sixty? You can't possibly think I'm _that_ old."

"C.C. don't worry," Maxwell interrupted. "We all know you're not that old." It was a tease, of course, but C.C. appreciated it nonetheless, and she smiled at him.

"Thank you, Maxwell. Sixty! Honestly, Niles, you have no idea what you're talking about."

Everyone laughed, and Nanny Fine began blathering on about the cake and a champagne toast. Everyone drifted that way but Niles drifted over to C.C.

"Oh Miss Babcock," Niles said, stepping forward to lean in and share it with her as though it were a secret only between the two of them. "I know how old you really are, and don't worry, I won't tell." He pressed a finger to his lips and shushed himself, hiding a smile.

She rolled her eyes and was just about to give him a hearty poke in the side, followed by some biting remark, when smiled at her, a real, genuine smile. "Happy _thirtieth_ birthday, Miss Babcock," he said. 

She relaxed, laughed a little at his flattery. "Thank you, Niles." And she really meant it.


End file.
